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DOJ Attempts to Unwind Google’s Ad Business After Antitrust Ruling

Prime Highlights: 

  • The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is attempting to break up Google’s ad empire after a federal court’s finding that it has illegal monopolies in ad tech. 
  • Remedies trial is set for September 22, 2025, to decide the shape of Google’s ad business. 

Key Facts: 

  • Google dominated significant parts of the online ad market, a federal judge concluded. 
  • The DOJ demands Google to unbundle its ad server and ad exchange business. 
  • Google argues the break-up will harm innovation and the digital economy. 

Key Background: 

The US Department of Justice is upping its antitrust battle with Google, targeting the tech leader’s control of the online ad business. This follows a significant decision by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who ruled that Google illegally monopolized the ad tech stack — or the software publishers and advertisers employ to sell and purchase digital advertisements. 

Google’s dominance over ads lies in its command of a few layers of the infrastructure. It owns the largest publisher-employed ad server (DoubleClick for Publishers) and the highest-ranking ad exchange (AdX) where digital ads are sold at real-time auction. This vertical integration has long been a red flag for regulators and competitors, who contend that Google’s position on both sides of the ad transaction allows it to manipulate the market in its favor — stifling competition, inflating prices for advertisers, and reducing revenue percentages for publishers. 

As a response, the DOJ is insisting on structural solutions, rather than curbs or fines. It is calling for Google to sell its ad exchange and ad server divisions. The argument of the government is that for restoring competitive equality in the marketplace, these divisions must be separated. In the eyes of the DOJ, the anti-competitive moves by Google damaged the free exchange of information by hurting standalone publishers as well as making it tougher for the advertiser to get a fair bargain. 

Google is pushing back, though. The company maintains that the market for online advertising is competitive and that it is faced with intense competition from other companies like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. It warns that forced breakup would destabilize the digital economy, drive up costs for businesses, and ultimately hurt consumers by reducing innovation and efficiency. 

A remedies trial in September 2025 will determine exactly what Google must reform. The court battle is one of a series of antitrust cases the DOJ has filed against big tech platforms over the past few years and represents a more aggressive federal push to police digital monopolies. The ruling will reshape the future of online advertising and set a precedent for how aggressively the government can push to break up Big Tech behemoths.